Saturday, February 06, 2010

trouser tyranny?

being extremely bored, i decided to go google about kilts and such, resulting in me ending up at a site by "an international band of men who enjoy the freedom, comfort, pleasure, and masculine appearance of kilts or other male unbifurcated (skirt-like) garments, and who reject the absurd notion that males must always be confined to trousers."

so some interesting points they made about trousers and why they're bad..."There - in the crotch - they confine, crowd, bind, chafe, and otherwise cut into the male genitalia. The trousers also chafe against the inner thighs and, depending on their tightness, restrict leg movement. In some cases, the confinement of trousers may cause a rash or even reduce a man's sperm count."

"Trousers are a relatively recent development. In earlier times, men were accustomed to wearing unbifurcated clothing - such as robes, togas, tunics, sarongs, and various kilt-like or skirt-like garments."

"The desire for less constricting trousers is reflected in the trend among young men and boys, which started in the 1990's, to wear oversized trousers and shorts, with sagging crotches. This style, which is reminiscent of the baggy pants worn by old-fashioned slap-stick comedians, has been criticized for its sloppy appearance. While its low crotch allows more room for a man's genitals, it still leaves an annoying convergence of seams rubbing between one's thighs. A man would be more comfortable - and look less sloppy - if the inseams were eliminated altogether."

"Some people have tried to defend the trouser rule on religious grounds, as if trousers had been divinely ordained. They ignore the fact that priests and monks have been wearing unbifurcated robes and cassocks for centuries. They point to a passage in Deuteronomy that is sometimes interpreted as prohibiting cross-dressing. What they seem to forget is that trousers didn't even exist when the Bible was written. All the men in those days wore unbifurcated clothing. When have you ever seen a depiction of Moses or Jesus wearing trousers? If unbifurcated clothing was good enough for them, why not for us?"

"Because, while women can wear almost anything they want nowadays, our society subjects men to a rigid stereotype that confines them to trousers. Few men have the courage to break out of this mold, for fear that their masculinity will be questioned."

"Society puts little value on sissies, wimps, and momma's boys. Therefore, the boy must be physically and psychologically torn away from his mother and all things feminine, in order to achieve a new, masculine identity. He must go through repeated ordeals to strengthen his body and desensitize his feelings. He must become mortally ashamed of anything soft or feminine within him."

and there's much more, but the article is really long so if you're actually interested see here.

Plucking Heartstrings

"I just don’t want to die without a few scars, I say. It’s nothing any more to have a beautiful stock body. You see those cars that are completely stock cherry, right out of a dealer’s showroom in 1955, I always think, what a waste."